Project-Blu Waltz with Bashir, by M. Enois Duarte

Waltz with Bashir

By: M. Enois Duarte, 6.18.2009

The Movie Itself:
Part documentary on the 1982 Lebanon War and part film on the psychological impact of war, Waltz with Bashir is the filmmaker's personal journey into the forgotten past -- in search of a memory lost to our defense mechanisms. And probably for good reason. The film functions much like a surreal dream in search of a devastating truth that borders on a nightmare, which is clearly the intention. Deeper still, there rests a question on responsibility and guilt over the Sabra and Shatila massacre, where thousands of innocent civilians were killed by a Christian militia group. The event took place while Beirut was under the control of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). And they reacted rather slowly to stop it. Is it possible they knowingly allowed the massacre to occur? Or, did they become naïve participants in a Nazi-style act of mass genocide?

After meeting with an army buddy, who tells of a recurring nightmare related to the Lebanon War, Ari Folman suddenly realizes he has no memory of that period in his life. Later that night, the conversation somehow prompts a vision in Folman's mind. Or is it a mysterious memory of the events which take place in Beirut? In the vision, he and two other fellow soldiers emerge naked from the sea at night, while the lights from flares rain down upon a desolate city. To search for possible answers to this strange dream, he meets with another friend, who advises him to contact other soldiers that were there with him in an effort to jog his memory. His conversations with those soldiers, a psychologist, and the reporter Ron Ben-Yishai (the first journalist to enter the Sabra and Shatila camps after the massacre) forces Ari to confront a terrible and tragic reality of war.

This is Folman's first venture into animation, and he couldn't have made a better choice in telling his tale. There are certain limitations to live-action filmmaking that would have made this particular film nearly impossible to make. The artwork appears as a cross between A Scanner Darkly or Waking Life and a graphic novel, similar in style to rotoscoping. Other noted influences are the novels Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse-Five. The narrative itself progresses much like Apocalypse Now, where the main protagonist delves deeper and deeper into the atrocities and brutalities of warfare. But influences aside, Waltz with Bashir is a film wholly unto itself, capturing the insanity, delusions, and the affect of conflicts between nations with harrowing detail and disheartening depth.

In Folman's competent hands, we travel into one man's heart of darkness, expressed in an original and unique storytelling approach. And not because we're merely watching a documentary about a specific period in history. But because we join the filmmaker in his quest to confront a horrific event that has been long forgotten. As it turns out, it's a tragedy that should always be remembered rather than lost to history. The effort to reconstruct those events in Folman's mind is brilliant, as many of the interviews with fellow soldiers are interwoven with renditions of their stories and perspectives of the war. And rather than being a straight documentary, Folman designs the film in such a way to leave plenty of room for interpretation, since the issue of the reliability of memories is placed into question early on.

With an ending that simply leaves you stunned, Waltz with Bashir is a poignant film on the horrors of war, told with a dreamlike and somber animation that will not be equally matched for years to come. Its unconventional format is a story about the recovery of painful memories we wish to forget, but should never allow to happen again. Its nightmarish narrative is profound. Its visual style is stark, unsettling and arresting. And it's easily one of the best films of the year.
Rating: 10/10

The Presentation:
Debuting onto Blu-ray is a near-reference picture quality of Waltz with Bashir, sporting a spotless and brilliant AVC-encoded transfer that beautifully replicates the intended look of the filmmakers. Framed in a 1.78:1 window, the film also arrives with a thin veil of grain that is consistent from beginning to end, producing a splendid filmic experience.

Colors are extraordinarily vibrant and intense with strong, attractive secondary hues which give the picture wonderful dimension. The black outlines are equally sharp and resolute, though they carry an intentional rough quality for texture and artistic design. Brightness levels exhibit inky, ebony blacks with terrific gradations in the grayscale, providing the image with an enjoyable three-dimensional feel throughout. Details are clear and unmistakable, even in the darkest shadows. Contrast is spot-on with bright, penetrating whites, giving the film clear perceptibility of the smallest details in the distance. Many scenes were quite captivating, appearing almost like vivid true-to-life paintings on the screen. There are a few instances, however, where light banding is visible, yet negligible in comparison to the overall effect.
Rating: 9.2/10

Equipped with a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack, Waltz with Bashir offers a deliberately nuanced sound design that makes an appreciably sophisticated use of the room environment. The film is driven by dialogue, and the track delivers many of the soft spoken conversations with plenty of clarity and great balance. The front-heavy presentation is dynamically rich with a mid-range that cleanly differentiates between the various sounds. Imaging and separation are marvelous, containing realistic and convincing acoustical spaciousness that envelops the listening the area. Movement between the channels is equally smooth with excellent directionality and transparency. Low-frequency effects display impressive room resonance that fills the room, when appropriate. The original score by Max Richter, as well as the 80s music tracks, enjoys an expansiveness that spreads into the background for a subtly immersive quality. In the end, the lossless track adds a great deal to the aural experience of Waltz with Bashir.
Rating: 8.4/10

Overall Presentation: 9/10

** 9 - 10 = Reference / 8 = Excellent / 7 = Good /
6 = Satisfactory / 5 = Average / 4 & under = Below Average **

The Extras:
This Blu-ray edition of Waltz with Bashir arrives with a decent assortment of bonus material that delves deeper into the making of this extraordinary film. While the disc comes BD-Live Enabled, the features are presented only in standard definition, except where noted.

Audio Commentary
Director Ari Folman provides his thoughts on the film, its production, and other facts surrounding his experience in the Lebanon War.
Q&A with Director Ari Folman (9 min)
A question-and-answer session recorded after the film's Hollywood screening.
Surreal Soldiers: Making Waltz with Bashir (12 min)
Consisting mostly of interviews with the filmmakers, the really short doc discusses the difficulties of creating the animation with the use of Adobe Flash and hand-drawn images.
Building the Scenes - Animatics (17 min)
Broken into four parts, each segment examines and compares different aspects of the filmmaking techniques, from live-action footage and storyboards to rough animation and colorization.
Theatrical Trailer
A preview of the film presented in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound.
Previews
A collection of trailers from Sony's Blu-ray library.

Rating: 4/10

Final Thoughts:
Offering what can be called the most unique experience in documentary filmmaking, Waltz with Bashir blends surreal, nightmarish images with stories of the people who witnessed the atrocities committed at the Sabra and Shatila camps. As a personal journey into memories most would rather suppress, Ari Folman's film about confronting the psychological impact of war is deeply haunting and profound, making it one of the best films of the year. This Blu-ray edition of the film debuts with an immaculate picture quality and an excellent audio presentation. With a satisfying collection of supplements, this Blu-ray presentation of Waltz with Bashir is the only way to watch this extraordinary film.
Rating: 8/10